Etymograph

English

environment

Environment comes from Middle French environnement.

  1. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600environnement1
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1998environment1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English environment
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1998, Jonathan Rauch, Tunnel Vision: The Dawn of Microgovernment: “What was seen from the top down, as a…”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600environnementWiktionary, English environment
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1998environmentWiktionary, English environment. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1998, Jonathan Rauch, Tunnel Vision: The Dawn of Microgovernment: “What was seen from the top down, as a…”

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Today it means

noun The surroundings of, and influences on, a particular item of interest.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “environment”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Middle French environnement / environment